Fantastic Anti-piracy Statement

[MyRedNeptune]

That is the oldest excuse in the book "oh well I just want to try it" then they play the entire game and don't feel the need to buy it.

Yes, but that is unrelated to my point.

EDIT: I read your post again and now I see what you mean. But I still think that there are people who legitimately want to try a game and will buy it if they like it. Even some people who posted in this thread reported doing that, and there are countless amounts of people who admitted to pirating Amnesia and then buying it because they loved it so much.

[Tiger]

And if you just want to "try it out", well, you don't get to permamently try things out in your local furniture store, what makes games any different?

Well, usually you get to try the furniture before buying it. That would kind of be like a game demo, right? Well, if the maker of the furniture (Let's say the chair) would refuse to allow anyone to sit on the chair before buying it, wouldn't you also steal it to get to try it out?

[darkely]

That is the oldest excuse in the book "oh well I just want to try it" then they play the entire game and don't feel the need to buy it.

Yes, but that is unrelated to my point.

It still relates to the topic in general.

OT: this message probably will piss the pirate off more than anything and make them not want to buy it.

[eliasfrost]

And if you just want to "try it out", well, you don't get to permamently try things out in your local furniture store, what makes games any different?

Well, usually you get to try the furniture before buying it. That would kind of be like a game demo, right? Well, if the maker of the furniture (Let's say the chair) would refuse to allow anyone to sit on the chair before buying it, wouldn't you also steal it to get to try it out?

No, that's not quite what I meant. Pirating a game to "try it out" is the same as taking a chair home and "try it out", and may as well keep it instead of paying for it.

A demo on the other hand, which is the kind of thing that I think you mean, is totally different. You get to try it out, yes, but you don't get to keep it if you don't like it, unlike pirated software.

And frankly, the gaming industry has been very ungenerous with demos as of late (2000 and forward).

[darkely]

And if you just want to "try it out", well, you don't get to permamently try things out in your local furniture store, what makes games any different?

Well, usually you get to try the furniture before buying it. That would kind of be like a game demo, right? Well, if the maker of the furniture (Let's say the chair) would refuse to allow anyone to sit on the chair before buying it, wouldn't you also steal it to get to try it out?

No, that's not quite what I meant. Pirating a game to "try it out" is the same as taking a chair home and "try it out", and may as well keep it instead of paying for it.

A demo on the other hand, which is the kind of thing that I think you mean, is totally different. You get to try it out, yes, but you don't get to keep it if you don't like it, unlike pirated software.

And frankly, the gaming industry has been very ungenerous with demos as of late (2000 and forward).

Why did they just stop making demos out of the blue? any reason for it?

[eliasfrost]

And if you just want to "try it out", well, you don't get to permamently try things out in your local furniture store, what makes games any different?

Well, usually you get to try the furniture before buying it. That would kind of be like a game demo, right? Well, if the maker of the furniture (Let's say the chair) would refuse to allow anyone to sit on the chair before buying it, wouldn't you also steal it to get to try it out?

No, that's not quite what I meant. Pirating a game to "try it out" is the same as taking a chair home and "try it out", and may as well keep it instead of paying for it.

A demo on the other hand, which is the kind of thing that I think you mean, is totally different. You get to try it out, yes, but you don't get to keep it if you don't like it, unlike pirated software.

And frankly, the gaming industry has been very ungenerous with demos as of late (2000 and forward).

Why did they just stop making demos out of the blue? any reason for it?

I don't know, maybe they think highly scripted semi-CGI trailers would be enough "demo" for their customers, instead of, you know, a real demo.

[Tiger]

And if you just want to "try it out", well, you don't get to permamently try things out in your local furniture store, what makes games any different?

Well, usually you get to try the furniture before buying it. That would kind of be like a game demo, right? Well, if the maker of the furniture (Let's say the chair) would refuse to allow anyone to sit on the chair before buying it, wouldn't you also steal it to get to try it out?

No, that's not quite what I meant. Pirating a game to "try it out" is the same as taking a chair home and "try it out", and may as well keep it instead of paying for it.

A demo on the other hand, which is the kind of thing that I think you mean, is totally different. You get to try it out, yes, but you don't get to keep it if you don't like it, unlike pirated software.
And frankly, the gaming industry has been very ungenerous with demos as of late (2000 and forward).

Yeah, I agree with you. My last post was just a failed attempt at making a joke.

[Bridge]

No, that's not quite what I meant. Pirating a game to "try it out" is the same as taking a chair home and "try it out", and may as well keep it instead of paying for it.

It is not. This fallacy is used by almost all opponents of piracy and no matter how often it is said, it seems like people do not grasp the fundamental difference between theft and piracy.

Here is the most basic explanation there is:

Software is immaterial. Products are material. What happens when you steal a physical product? You take away a physical representation of an idea that costs money to manufacture. Ergo, by stealing you cause the company to lose money = theft.

When you steal software, you take away a copy of an idea. It doesn't exist, therefore it is not a physical product. Furthermore, because it is a copy, you are not actually stealing anything. If you were to steal the source code and sell it, that is intellectual property theft, which is a crime. A copy of the game resources is data that inhabits an immaterial world. It cannot be stolen.

Period.

[darkely]

No, that's not quite what I meant. Pirating a game to "try it out" is the same as taking a chair home and "try it out", and may as well keep it instead of paying for it.

It is not. This fallacy is used by almost all opponents of piracy and no matter how often it is said, it seems like people do not grasp the fundamental difference between theft and piracy.

Here is the most basic explanation there is:

Software is immaterial. Products are material. What happens when you steal a physical product? You take away a physical representation of an idea that costs money to manufacture. Ergo, by stealing you cause the company to lose money = theft.

When you steal software, you take away a copy of an idea. It doesn't exist, therefore it is not a physical product. Furthermore, because it is a copy, you are not actually stealing anything. If you were to steal the source code and sell it, that is intellectual property theft, which is a crime. A copy of the game resources is data that inhabits an immaterial world. It cannot be stolen.

Period.

Translation:

[eliasfrost]

No, that's not quite what I meant. Pirating a game to "try it out" is the same as taking a chair home and "try it out", and may as well keep it instead of paying for it.

It is not. This fallacy is used by almost all opponents of piracy and no matter how often it is said, it seems like people do not grasp the fundamental difference between theft and piracy.

Here is the most basic explanation there is:

Software is immaterial. Products are material. What happens when you steal a physical product? You take away a physical representation of an idea that costs money to manufacture. Ergo, by stealing you cause the company to lose money = theft.

When you steal software, you take away a copy of an idea. It doesn't exist, therefore it is not a physical product. Furthermore, because it is a copy, you are not actually stealing anything. If you were to steal the source code and sell it, that is intellectual property theft, which is a crime. A copy of the game resources is data that inhabits an immaterial world. It cannot be stolen.

Period.

I get that, but it's still not ok to pirate software, because the company will lose money that the pirated copy could have generated had it been sold instead, there's no two-way around that. "But hey! They don't lose just as much money as a real theft", no, but they still lose money.

Maybe my example was bad, but my point still stands, the company loses money. Or, so that everyone understands: They don't REALLY lose money, they don't get the money that they could have gotten if the pirate would have just bought a copy of their software. Which doesn't sound as bad, but IS just as bad.